Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 17 – Young doctors in Iran are living under the poverty line with many of them forced to find alternative work to earn enough to get by, according to head of Iranian Doctors’ Society.

Iran Focus: Baghdad, Jan. 17 – The Iraqi Defence Minister, Hazem al-Shaalan today accused Iran of interference, saying, “Iran has spent more than $1 billion on meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq”. In a telephone interview with the Arab language Ilaf website, al-Shaalan also accused candidates on the opposition list of Shiite figures led by Abdol Aziz Hakim as a group trying to invite sectarian and religious strife among the people of Iraq.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 17 – Two teenage students hanged themselves in the town of Sirjan (southern Iran) on Friday. Mohammad-Javad Maki-Abadi, a second year high school student, and Asghar Maki-Abadi, a third year high school student, were cousins. They committed suicide in Mohammad-Javad’s house when all of their relatives were out. The exact motive has yet to be confirmed.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 17 – The Head of Iran’s Addiction Prevention Office said that the drug addiction rate had surpassed the population increase rate by three times.
“Based on statistics obtained over the last 30 years, drug addiction has increased by eight percent, which is the equivalent of three times the growth of the population”, …

Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 17 – Eighty-nine percent of unemployed women in Iran are highly educated, with many in universities, according to a senior government expert. “About 88.7 percent of unemployed women in Iranian cities and 59.4 percent of unemployed women in rural areas are highly educated”, Ladan Nowrouzi said, in an interview with …